Lakulisha

Hindu deity

Lakulisha ( ) (Etymology: लगुड (staff) or लकुट (mace) + ईश (lord) = meaning, the lord with a staff or mace or club or stick) was a prominent Shaivite revivalist, reformist and preceptor of the doctrine of the Pashupatas, one of the oldest sects of Shaivism. According to some scholars, Lakulisha was the founder of the Pashupata sect. Others argue that the Pashupata doctrine was already in existence before Lakulisha, and he was only its first formal preceptor. According to a tradition stated in the Linga Purana, Lakulisha is considered as the 28th and the last avatar of Shiva and the propounder of the Yoga system. In this tradition, Lakulisha had four disciples: Kaurushya, Garga, Mitra and Kushika. According to another tradition mentioned in the Avanti Khanda of the Skanda Purana, Lakulisha and his four disciples installed a linga at Mahakalavana, which was then known as Kayavarohaneshvara. The Kurma Purana (Chapter 53), the Vayu Purana (Chapter 23), and the Linga Purana (Chapter 24) predicted that Shiva (Maheshvara) would appear in the form of a wandering monk called 'Lakulin' or 'Nakulisha', and that he would have four disciples named Kushika, Garga, Mitra, and Kanrushya, who would re establish the cult of Pashupati and would therefore be called Pashupata(s). Lakulisha was the fruition of these divine predictions. According to Vayu Purana V. 1.23.202 214, Lakulisha was a contemporary of Vyasa and Krishna, and was the 28th incarnation of Rudra (Shiva).

Lakulisha was born in the village of Karavan on the bank of Narmada in Gujarat and propagated Saivism. It has been maintained that Lakulisha's thesis conflicted with that of Gosala, and Lakulisha opposed Jainism and particularly Buddhism. Lakulisha is said to have restored practices of Hatha yoga and Tantrism, as well as the cosmological theories of the Samkhya and the duality associated with Samkhya tenets.

A pillar erected by Chandragupta II at Mathura in 380 CE states that a ‘Guruvayatana’ (Abode of the Gurus) was established by Uditacharya, who was 4th in descent from a teacher of the Pashupata sect named Parashara, who in turn was 6th in descent from Kushika. If this Kushika is one of the four disciples of Lakulisha described in the Linga Purana, the latter must have existed around 125 CE. The epigraphist John Faithfull Fleet contends that in North India, Kushana emperors like Huvishka (140 CE) replaced the pictures of Hercules on their coins with ones of Shiva, and of Heracles with images of Lakulisha. In the 4th century CE, beginning with the reign of Chandragupta II, icons and representations of Lakulisha have been frequently found. They portray him as a naked yogi with a staff in his left hand and a citron (matulinga) in his right, either standing or seated in the lotus posture. At about the beginning of the 11th century, the Lakulisha cult shifted its activities to southern India. A sect of Pasupata ascetics, founded by Lakulisa (or Nahulisa), is attested by inscriptions from the 5th century and is among the earliest of the sectarian religious orders of Shaivite Hinduism.

The penile erection representation illustrates the centrality of the energetic principle of Urdhva Retas ( , lit. "ascent of vital energies or fluid") practice of Brahmacharya or celibacy and the upward flow of energy in spiritual pursuits, contrary to fertility or release of vital energies. The Urdhva linga , pointing upward, conveys not only the retention of the seed once "stirred" but its upward condition, "through the spinal cord to the brain", retaining its integrity as 'creative substance', while being transformed and absorbed mentally as Bodhicitta, the "thought of Awakening". The ithyphallic representation of the erect shape connotes the very opposite in this context, as it stands for "seminal retention", and represents Lakulisha as "he stands for the complete control of the senses, and for the supreme carnal renunciation". These icons are some more examples of iconic, image lingas. D. R. Bhandarkar mentions that the image in the sanctum of the Lakulishvara temple in Karvan is "the conjoint figure of Brahmeshvara and Lakulisha, confirming the statement of the Mahatmya that Lakulisha merged himself with Brahmeshvara". Brahmeshvara refers to the Shiva linga. Lakulisha was identified with Mahesha (Shiva) in the Karvan Mahatmya and in iconographical programmes of several temples of Orissa and Rajasthan. So the images of Lakulisha conjoint with the linga, like other image lingas, combine both the sakala (with form, manifest) and nishkala (formless, unmanifest) aspects of Shiva. Lakulisha images have also been found in Saurastra, Gujarat, and also in some parts of the eastern India. Some of the images depict Lakulisha as a naked yogi and he carries prayer beads, a club, a cup of human skull. Lakulisha is shown as accompanied by animals. Almost all of Lakulisha's images appear as urdhav linga (with an erect penis) but neither symbolizing fertility nor sexuality, but the refined energetic principles (Urdhva Retas) during Sāyaṇa or Asceticism. Image of Lakulisha have been found depicted on the walls of the large hall at Elephanta Caves, suggesting that the caves may have been associated with Pashupata Shaivism. Icons of Lakulisha have also been found on the Laxmaneswar group of temples at Bhubaneswar, namely, the Satrughneswar, Bharateswar and Laxmaneswara temples. A rock cut Shiva temple with bas reliefs of Ganapati and Lakulisa, carved by the seventh century Pandyas, is located at Arittapatti near Madurai. This temple is maintained by the Archeological Department of Tamil Nadu. Lakulisha carvings are also found on Kudavelly Sangameswara and Balabrahmeswara Swamy temples at Alampur, Gadwal Jogulamba district, Telangana.